A RYEDALE author is taking his own version of the Tour de France on tour.

Andy Seed, who lives in Amotherby, has collected a number of items of memorabilia from previous races including current champion Chris Froome’s helmet which he is taking round schools in the run-up to the big event,

The writer, whose latest book The Silly Book of Side-Splitting Stuff is out this month, is working on the project with fellow writer Mike Barfield from Helperby near Easingwold.

Andy said they wanted to do something to introduce the Tour de France to children and get them interested in the event.

“Many youngsters don’t know much about the event so we have put together a series of sketches about its history and how it started,” he added.

“We also talk about the race itself and why the different colour jerseys are uses.”

The pair, who are touring schools in the run-up to Le Tour in July, also have a couple of bikes - one from the 1980s and a modern cycle.

“The older one is a lot heavier and to demonstrate this we use bags of water bottles and get the children to lift them both to compare the weights,” Andy said.

“There is also a cycling challenge where they try to go as fast as Bradley Wiggins on an exercise bike.”

Andy said the Tour de France was a massive event worldwide and it was important to share with children the historical importance of it coming to this country.

"Although the race is not coming to Ryedale, we wanted local schools to feel involved," he added.

“We were very excited to be able to borrow Chris Froome’s helmet from Team Sky which is a genuine piece of Tour de France history and share the build up to the event with youngsters in the area.”